Katniss And Peeta, So Totally Not Spying On Gale And His Wife From Their House On Purpose While They

I know the story of Icarus is supposed to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of getting ahead of yourself...

But has anyone thought about whether Icarus intended to fall? What if when he flew high above, out of the awful labyrinth that had entrapped him and his father all this time, he finally felt free in the endless sky with the ocean under him? What if he looked beyond and saw a city on the horizon and while his father flying beside him shouts that it is safe haven, that they have found a place to land, all Icarus could see was another maze, with its walls and paths and crossroads. Only this one seemed to have more people caught in it. What if he looked at it all and refused to be one of them, refused to live the rest of his life in another labyrinth after just escaping one. What if the sun wasn't his doom but the bright burning possibility of freedom.

You must understand, I'm not saying he definitely wanted to fall. But maybe he never wanted to stop flying. Maybe he never wanted to be parted from the sky and sea. Maybe he just wanted to be free.

the hidden inventory

I think @runabout-river makes some really excellent fucking points and I wholeheartedly agree. Particularly,It is 100% accurate that JJK is more plot driven than character driven. I want to talk about the characterization a little bit though.

Now I'd like to preface this by saying, I'm actually new to anime and manga on the whole. This is the first time I've gotten into either (I am enjoying myself thoroughly). So maybe this approach to characterization is fairly typical in the genre. Or maybe its a Shonen thing, idk.

From what I've seen, characterization is a really really interesting thing in this series and it's Fandom. If I were to go on canon material alone, I would say there's not much actually characterization so much as an employment of tropes. Characterization often involves creating complex layers for your characters that aren't just generic nobility/villainy or expected set of traits for a certain archetype. I would like to clarify here that archetypes are not a bad thing. Used right, they're awesome. But creating tropes is different from creating characters. Characterization needs to go beyond the trope.

Some might confuse giving a character a backstory with characterization. And that's not necessarily the case. You could give the longest backstory but still have your character be rather predictable and typical for their trope, often the backstory is in order to play right into a certain trope. Now, this isn't an absolute throughout the series, it is relative. Some characters definitely have slightly better characterization than others.

I am NOT saying that the series has bad characterization. Because firstly, it's largely plot driven. And secondly, bad characterization is a whole different ball game. Bad characterization is if you could make a certain character do pretty much anything and it works because there isn't an established sense of "that person would never do that" (example- Black widow from Marvel). Good characterization would be where when you see a characters course of action and in hindsight you have no doubt in your mind that that is exactly what that character would do, no other way of acting would have seemed as right. Exercising tropes instead of in-depth characterization falls somewhere in the middle of the two.

Now here's where things get interesting. There is actually really cool characterization for jjk, but it's not what happens in the series, it's what happens in the fandom. The fandom consumes this content and then read and interpret these characters and often create content and/or discussions surrounding these representations. I think the best example of this is often when people in the fandom read into and create content about Gojo and his grief and trauma and how he chooses to process by suppression. The series does not do this at all because they need to keep Gojo within his trope- the cool, suave, overpowered mentor/man-child. And so we in the fandom often rely on these characterization and think of the series as one that has really good characterization when in reality, it's we the fandom who brought out that aspect.

One thing that bothers me about jujutsu is that the author doesn't know how to develop some characters. 1 Shoko Ieri is an interesting character but I find her apathetic without a cold and superficial personality. 2 itadori yuji doesn't seem to be a protagonist he seems more like a tool than the protagonist of the work. 3 nobara had no development dry and emotionless death. and many other characters. There were only 2 characters that really had development, which was gojo and geto, for me, they were the only ones that had it. Why do you think the author did this, is it because he didn't want to develop the characters that's why he killed many important characters? I would appreciate it if you respond.

This is a lot to answer so sorry if it gets confusing a little.

1.) and you really have to keep this in mind, is that the manga isn't finished yet. It's also not about to finish. We have just reached the beginning of the end and we have at least another 6 months to go if not more. Without the last panel drawn, we can't really talk about the stuff Gege hasn't put into the story yet.

Still, many of your points can be addressed.

Shoko: In both the present and the past storylines, she is a side character without her side of the story being shown too much. Her being cold and apathetic can be a fitting description of her in the present but in the past she was more open and easy-going.

When you say she has a superficial personality that's where your interpretation is a little off. For one, her personality changes and for two, her current personality reflects the cost that living as a sorcerer has on people. We are also shown her inner thoughts on occasion but interestingly, one of those thoughts kind of comments her role in the story.

(This thought also establishes that she has trouble understanding Gojo's point of view on his godlike status)

The thing with Shoko is that we're never shown what she does: heal and save people. That's an aspect of her character that has been completely, and deliberately I say, missing until this point. But she has saved the lives of: Geto, Ino and Angel (plus some others) and she has therefore shaped the entire plot of the manga extremely.

But this I think will change in the most impactful way possible: with her saving Gojo's life by showing us for the first time what her CT is and how she heals people.

On Nobara, you're right. She had little character development and no reflection on her thoughts and beliefs. To this I say, read my post about her coming back because I believe that she will get that character develepoment and reflection when she re-enters the manga.

The same thing goes for Tsumiki. I was really disappointed when Yorozu died and Tsumiki basically disappeared from the story with her role never being more than that of a prop. But it was pointed out to me, that Tsumiki actually had been shown in an active role in the manga 70 chapters ago and that role will definitely be revisited when Megumi gets the spotlight again.

Now to Yuji. Did you realize that you contradicted yourself? You said that Yuji doesn't feel like a protagonist but you also said that Geto and Gojo had the best character developement. You're definitely talking about Hidden Inventory here but HI is and arc where Yuji is removed as the protagonist.

So the main protagonist being removed from the story temporarily has a purpose. You could say that that was a flashback and doesn't really count and that you mostly mean the 4 mini-arcs in Culling Games where Yuji wasn't present + the Sukuna/Yorozu fight + the Gojo/Sukuna fight.

Gojo/Suku we don't even count in this, that's a given, Sukuna/Yorozu is character showing plus setup for the future and Yuki/Choso/Tengen vs Kenjaku we don't count either, because that's a plot progression plus villain fight.

In my experience when people talk about Yuji not being a good protagonist because he isn't present often enough, they mean the arcs where Yuta, Maki and Hakari take centre stage. (The three other mini-arcs add to this)

Why would a mangaka do their story like this?

For world building. To be more precise: for plot building. Yuta, Maki and Hakari have important roles for the endfights and for that they needed character development (Maki), a show of their powers (all) and setups for the future (eg alliances with Kashimo and Uro).

Right from the beginning, JJK always moved the plot forward first. That's why the pace is so fast. The story is plot driven and not character driven, but that doesn't mean that the characters aren't given their time, just that that time isn't an entire chapter.

You can critizese this of course, I too would've liked small character scenes to have been expended on. That Yuji is taken off the picture for world building isn't sth I would critizise though. That's what happened in parts of Attack on Titan, and it also happens constantly in One Piece with Luffy albeit in Flashbacks.

It simply adds to the story when we can see other characters act on their own and while Yuji is back in the centre now, he will most likely take small steps back again to let other characters shine like Megumi eg. It also adds to his personality, but for the end of the manga he will be the centre of attention.

Idk man....there's no trauma....

...it's not like the idea of there being a pairing where one person has mistreated the other in the past but grows up and genuinely apologizes and tries to atone for it is relatable to my childhood or anything....

...or that the idea of someone who yells at you and is pretty rough around the edges sometimes still loves and cares for you underneath it all even though they don't seem to know how to say it is something I desperately want to believe is true....

...and it's most certainly not that in a lot of ways both of them have been let down or adultified by many of the actual adults in their life and the older generation at large done fucked up with these kids and might be a little too relatable to my generation in general...

...hahaha it's definitely not any of those things...nope...no trauma here

what does bakudeku yaoi have to do with your trauma

there is something significant that suzanne begins thg with an interaction between gale, katniss, and madge. and in that interaction, gale specifically calls out madge for having only five entries, implying that her chances of going to the capitol are nonexistent (thg, 12). or at least less than him, who has forty-two entries (thg, 13).

suzanne integrates this scene with madge in the novel to show (1) the class division throughout the district that creates animosity. and although gale knows that it is not her fault, that doesn't stop him from digging into her (thg, 13). and it also emphasizes (2) the illusion that some people are safe, or benefit in this system.

yet, you know who had also only five entries? just like madge? peeta. and prim only had one entry. the two people whose names were called that year. so when the reaping happens, it proves just one thing. no one is safe. not a merchant's son. not even a girl with only one slip in the bowl.

and it just goes to emphasize the theme that follows katniss's throughout the novel: who does this system benefit? one that she finally reaches her conclusion at the end: that "it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen" (mj, 321). because no one is safe in a world where people murder children in order to solve their differences. and that means no one. not a capitolite. not a mayor's daughter. and not even a young medic whose sister has done everything in her power to keep her safe.

Part of why I dragged my feet on ever checking out JJK was the reputation I heard was that it's a BRUTAL grimdark story where ANYONE can DIE in a snap and the author says FUCK you. And after finally catching up with the anime that just... Isn't the tone at all?? Like, Game of Thrones, Gantz, Attack on Titan, etc other cornerstone grimdark reference points, I think one of their defining hallmarks is not just that characters die suddenly and violently, but that human life is nasty, brutish, and meaningless, and it's your own fault for being stupid enough to get attached.

Jujutsu Kaisen on the other hand, I don't know how you can look at one of the most recent casualties circa S2Ep20 of the anime where that character gets a full entire episode reminiscing about their childhood, and the moments and people that meant most to them, and come away thinking the author's intent was to treat life as meaningless. The amount of screen time devoted to the following character who gets badly maimed, the audience gets enthusiastically shoved neck deep into their insane kaleidoscopic passion that is never once undercut or subverted. Both of these characters, far from being callously snuffed out and dumped in the trash, were shown immense love. What we got was not a statement of their life being disposable, but a celebration of life, a reminder of who they are, what they cared about, what made them special, who they loved and who loved them and will remember them in turn.

This is a story about curses born of misery, hatred, and malice. It is also a story deeply concerned with dualism, especially when it comes to attachment and desire. Misery stems from worldly attachments, but it is not weak or foolish to become attached to things in this world. To love something is to set yourself up for the pain or anger of losing it, or sadness of having it denied. But that love is what makes life worth living anyway, and what makes it worth it to keep fighting. We as the audience are sad because we are attached to these characters who have met terrible fates. We see enough of them to be able to clearly picture the whole rich life they could have lived surrounded by friends and feel the sting of that path cut short. It is a story about how it was worthwhile knowing them well enough to be attached anyway, even if it meant unavoidable heartbreak.

This is true of both the human protagonists as well as the curses! Volcano Man and Mahito are ruthless killers who cruelly take lives without a thought. They also have hopes and dreams that they earnestly try to protect and follow through on, and face heartbreaking despair upon defeat. They feel pain just like we do, but must nevertheless be killed. Humans face pain through the very act of living, but nevertheless must live.

In true grimdark fiction there is rarely anything good in life for characters to return to once the battle is over. In Jujutsu Kaisen, on the contrary, there is enough good in life that we see it even amidst the battle. I can see that no other way than an expression of genuine affection. Truly bleak fiction leaves me wondering why everyone involved doesn't just put a gun in their mouth and be done with it. JJK provides an answer--because you'll get to laugh about ruining an expensive shirt, because you'll meet an acquaintance's hot mom, because the next human earthworm movie is coming out, because your favorite idol is doing a meet and greet this weekend, because maybe someday you'll finally go to Malaysia. There are many answers, and none of them are stupid.

Yellow Flowers

Yellow is associate with hope in The Hunger Games. In the upcoming chapter 4, Katniss will remember eating dandelions and it giving her hope. The dandelions are linked to Peeta in Katniss' mind. He was looking at her when she saw them. (This will come up again in Mockingjay, if we get there.)

The yellow flowers come up again later. "Rue is a small yellow flower that grows in the Meadow. Rue. Primrose," Katniss thinks, explicitly linking Rue and Prim together.

Rue is a yellow shrub that can be decorative or used as an herb. There is "common" primrose and "evening" primrose. I believe Prim was named after evening primrose. It is also yellow and has some medicinal uses which is apt for Prim who wants to be a healer.

It's worth noting that katniss is white but has a yellow center. It's a flower but also edible, making it a bit more functional than rue or primrose (although rue can be used as an herb) to someone like our Katniss who is looking for food always. (Aren't we all?)

There is also one other character who is a yellow flower that Katniss will never explicitly link with hope but has a symbolic function in the novels: buttercup.

Buttercup the Cat is Prim's guardian. He and Katniss never get along but I always thought it was because they were too similar, both prickly and overprotective of Prim. He also prefers the Everdeen's old house in the Seam, like Katniss does, over the house in Victor's Village.

Buttercup is also a survivor. He doesn't die when Katniss attempts to drown him. He makes it through the firebombing of District 12. He somehow makes it back from District 13 to appear in 12 at the end of Mockingjay. Compare this to what Katniss goes through in the novels, how often she escapes death and her own difficult, winding road back to the house in the Victor's Village.

Anyway. TLDR, there are a lot of flower names in THG. I haven't even gotten to Posy (a "posy" is a bouquet of flowers) or Snow's unnatural, genetically engineered roses that are in opposition to the wildflowers like rue and evening primrose.

Whatever, I am calling it: the Hayffie fandom NEEDS a Bridgerton inspired/themed Hayffie fic. The possibilities are endless.